Exploration

Yesterday I took about 30 minutes to walk around the city streets near our hotel. It feels relatively safe during the day... I wouldn't do the same walk at night or alone.

Medellin is the second largest city in Colombia with a total population of 3.5 million which includes the surrounding areas. From my view, the only surrounding areas are the mountains. We are high in the Andes, about 5,000 feet but it feels way more tropical to me then the mountains of Colorado. The humidity is pretty high (to me) and there is a late afternoon thunderstorm everyday.

For all you track racing geeks like me.... this all means that the air pressure is pretty similar to LA and therefore, I feel like, the speeds, gears, etc. will be similar to riding at Home Depot Center. Oh, I also take into consideration the "Alpenrose" character this track encompasses, i.e. bumps.

More pics:

Sidewalk stores

Tropical beauty in the middle of lots of urban commotion.

I love checking out homes in the different cities. They say a lot about where I am at that moment.

Does this mean I am possibly not safe at this moment? Hmm... put away the camera gringo.

Local moving company.

I wasn't kidding.

We are surrounded by mountains and security.

One of the keys is to stay hydrated. Check out the coach's post for today and there personal note at the bottom.

Racing starts tomorrow! Points race for me. Scratch race for Kit Karzen. Team Sprint for the sprint boys. 500m for the sprint girls.

About that...

Yep, I have done it again. I promised for more blogging and then I failed.

The truth is that when I was home for 3.5 weeks, I didn’t have that much free time. Week 1, I slept the whole time… day, night, whatever. Week 2, I started training again but was still tired and, therefore, I slept a lot. There was also that whole thing about the real world that got in the way. Week 3, the real world took priority over sleeping.

And that brings us to now… in the southern country of Colombia via a couple days in Los Angeles.

I am preparing for Pan American Championships in Medellin, Colombia which start on May 1^st.

A blog in pictures:

Let the crazy bike travel begin

With 6 athletes and several staff members all flying out of LA, it was a circus.

Once we landed in Medellin, the unhealthy snacks were abundant.

Our bike limo.

View from my hotel room.

Bike rack, South American style.

Yep, that's how we roll.

Famous Tela. Oh, and, she is the only US athlete that speaks spanish.

Outdoor track! The vampire might get sun.

My buddy and old training partner, Michael Blatchford.

Outdoor concrete 250m that rides like Alpenrose. Carnival style!

The velodrome guard dog. I call mine at home Moochie but I am afraid to approach this one... they took off his mouth guard.